The majority of drycleaners today clean with the solvent perchloroethylene, also known as tetrachloroethylene or “PERC”. PERC has been in common use since the 1940's and it is very effective in removing soils from garments that must be drycleaned. PERC is non-flammable, easily purified by distillation, and does not easily break down to form corrosive agents. Additionally, PERC does not contribute to the formation of smog.
Despite the foregoing, there has been a movement to replace PERC in the dry cleaning industry. One class of solvents that has evolved as a PERC-replacement in the dry cleaning industry is silicone solvents, such as straight chain and cyclic silicones. Silicone solvents have been used for decades in products such as cosmetics, deodorants, skin preparations, bath oils, suntan preparations, shaving products and hair products, and are characterized as possessing favorable properties such as low-odor and low-surface tension. Additionally, silicone solvents are non-greasy, non-toxic (oral, dermal, inhalation), non-irritating, non-sensitizing, and have no immunosuppressant effects.
One exemplary silicone solvent is decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, which is also known as D5 cyclomethicone and exhibits ideal properties for a drycleaning fluid. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,135 issued on May 16, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane has a high flashpoint at 170° F., distills easily in a vacuum still, has anti-dye bleeding properties, is static free, safe on all fabrics and resists wrinkling. However, one of the main complaints of silicone fluid cleaned garments is that the cleaned fabrics have a limp hand with no body. To address the poor hand, drycleaners add sizing additives to the solvent to add body and to aid in retaining creases. The sizing additives are typically thermoplastic hydrocarbon resins derived from natural terpene hydrocarbons or petroleum sources. Unfortunately, these resins are not soluble in decamethylcyclopentasiloxane dry cleaning fluid.
Therefore, a need exists for new sizing agents that are soluble in silicone solvents.